Hoag, who drove away from the accident, was arrested a few hours later. He told officers an unidentified hitchhiker was driving at the time of the accident, but witnesses said only one person was in the truck when it hit Pricher.

Hoag's blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent at the time of his arrest. The legal limit is 0.10 percent.

Hoag skipped bail three days into his trial in Orlando. Stroker continued with the trial and Hoag was convicted.

Police who sought Hoag said they tracked him to New York, New Jersey, Tennessee and Michigan. He was arrested in Sebring, where he was living and working under an assumed name, after police got a tip in August.

Hoag had faced a recommended sentence under state guidelines of about seven years in prison.

But Assistant State Attorney Matt Fenderson asked Stroker for a stiffer sentence, saying Hoag had ''thumbed his nose at the system.''

Stroker went along with the request, citing the trauma to Pricher's family and to the other witnesses of the accident as reasons for departing from the recommended sentence.

Hoag, who Fenderson said probably will be eligible for release after serving about half his sentence, made no statement at his sentencing hearing.